Recent events make painfully clear that we cannot take the spread of democracy for granted, writes American Federation of Teachers president Sandy Feldman in her monthly "Where We Stand" column. Devotion to human dignity and freedom, to equal rights, and to the rule of law must be taught and learned and practiced. As the Afghani government and international agencies turn to the task of rebuilding that country's education system, she urges the United States to support efforts to bring democratic ideas and subjects like science, math, and economics to that nation's schools, including programs that disseminate worthy books and curricula. See "Teaching Democracy," at http://www.aft.org/stand/index.html. Chester Finn made a similar argument in a recent Gadfly editorial, "What to do about education in the Islamic world?" in the February 20, 2002 issue.
